Back on The Game

After being in Ireland for two weeks and being off the game for a little bit before that and a little bit after that, I was very happy to come home knowing there was a new challenge to the game awaiting me. As much as I had hoped to be "as good as possible" on vacation, the scale says I went up 10 pounds. I can tell you where that came from- Guinness and chips (french fries in Ireland).

This isn't an excuse, because I knew exactly what I was putting into my body and was totally okay with it, but...Ireland really is not known for its cuisine. There's no Whole Foods, there's no big bountiful salads on the menus to have as your meal. Most times, your side choices can be chips (french fries) and mashed potatoes. Seriously, you can get both. There are definitely some veggies in there, and I chose that sometimes, but it's just not as easy to eat well. Plus, I have to say, their selection of Cadbury chocolate and other types of candy is off the hook.

We set up plans to get a game going well before I even left Ireland and I knew it was going to be around 8-12 people. Most people I had never even played with before, and definitely the most amount of people I've ever played the game with- some who had never even played the game themselves before. But having this plan set in motion was hugely helpful. I've recognized that if I'm not on game, I tend to go back to my old habits of poor eating and being on the game is what helps tame that.

So today I started up what I guess would be considered my official 3rd round. Katie and I have done little mini games before and after Ireland to help keep us from going off the deep end, but those only lasted a few days or a week. This game begins today and is scheduled to go until Monday, December 28th. I'm not entirely sure playing the game over Christmas (which I'll be celebrating in NYC) is the right way to go, but part of me is definitely up for that challenge.

I am playing with Katie and two people who have never played before. We're playing against Cyrena, someone who played a two week game with her while I was in Ireland and then two other people who have never played before either. It's a mixed bag for sure, but I'm excited to spread the game to more people.

Wish me luck!

PS- For the record, during the five days I played the game upon getting back (which included Thanksgiving), I lost six of the 10 lbs I gained while in Ireland. I'll take it.

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Malahide and Last Day in Ireland

Today turned out to be one of my most favorite days of the trip. After a short drive from Cashel to Dublin (straight to the airport to drop Katie off for her afternoon flight to JFK), we had a decision to make. Once we dropped our things off at the airport hotel, would we go back into Dublin and do more exploring or would we just stay at the hotel and be low-key and responsible- pack up our things and get totally organized for the long day of traveling ahead of us?

Sawnia had mentioned going to Malahide, "They have a castle there." But we decided it would be much more fun to end our trip with a visit to the Jameson's Distillery. I mean, perfect, right?

But as the day wore on (and on), we kept thinking that maybe we'd just return the rental car and call it a day. That would be the easiest thing to do, right? I think we all can agree that we had more than enough fun on the entire trip and playing it safe on the last night certainly wouldn't harm any of us. As we pulled out of the hotel to return the rental car, I spotted a sign for Malahide- only 6k away and figured since it was so close, we could do that and then if we felt up for it, go into Dublin.

And I'm so glad we did. Malahide was by far the fanciest place I've been to in all of Ireland. The town part was super cute.



We went into a pub, Duffy's, for lunch and it was filled with very cool Guinness advertisements and cute old men lunching and talking.







Afterward we walked around Malahide (there was a Starbucks and a Pizza Hut, I almost felt like I was back in the States) before making our way over to the castle. We followed signs for the castle and I ended up walking along a very pretty and quiet nature path that sprawled around a park, a playground, soccer fields which eventually led me to the castle. It was a little bit of peace and alone time during my last hours in Ireland and I treasured it.





In front of the castle was the greenest green of any lawn I've ever seen. That's saying a lot considering just how much time I've spent in Ireland. I took endless pictures trying to capture just how green it was, but I don't think my camera did it justice. What do you think?







Intense, right? I have an amazing camera, but I don't think even that could capture just how lush this grass was.

From there I walked up to the castle. It wasn't a busy day, so I could wait for everyone crowded around the entrance and just outside of the castle to go in, and take pictures without anyone getting in. The castle was beautiful- simple yet elegant. And small enough to get in one frame.







I met up with Erica & Sawnia at the entrance and after walking through the gift shop, we continued around the perimeter of the castle. More pictures of more beautiful Irish landscape. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful backdrop to typical Irish countryside.







I liked today because it was unplanned and unexpected. And it turned out to be so beautiful and rich with color, life, history and surprise. It was a wonderful way to cap off our trip.

Because Gene couldn't meet up with us and the Malahide trip took a little longer than we thought, we opted not to go into Dublin. I'll have to save the Jameson's Distillery for another trip! Instead, we stayed in, ordered in Chinese (yes, seriously) and got our bags packed for the long day of traveling ahead of us tomorrow.

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It's Raining in Baltimore...

I'm sitting in the lobby of our hotel. In the not so distant background I hear the locals screaming at the game. Grown men screaming like little boys at the soccer match- Ireland vs. France. I have no clue what just happened. Their screams were indistinguishable between happiness or disappointment. The whoops and cheers are so far from where my mind is at.

I feel totally relaxed and calm. Today has been one of the best days of the trip so far. Which is pretty interesting considering almost as soon as we pulled into Baltimore, I immediately felt that three nights was probably too long to be here. What made the day so great was that we didn't do anything! No exploring, no massive amounts of driving, just a lot of reading, and drinking sprawled all throughout the day. From about lunchtime (an early 130pm) until dinnertime, I was mainly in the bar reading a book and nursing three Murphy's. It was great.

The weather wasn't that nice today either. The locals keep talking about how the weather is "particularly bad for this time of year." We have to keep repeating that we're from Los Angeles and we really don't come to Ireland for the weather. We get strange looks from people, most likely wondering why the hell we're here in the middle of their dead season with not a whole lot going on. But we like it this way.

I'm in the middle of my third book on vacation and I'm about to go upstairs to read some more before bed. Tomorrow we're on the move to Cashel. I've been here on two previous visits and have always stayed at the Cashel Palace Hotel. We're hoping to leave early enough that we have plenty of time to walk around Cashel (which shouldn't take that long).

Tonight I feel a small pinch of my heart. It's Wednesday night, which means there's a music session happening at The Thatch. And as much as I've loved today, I love being at The Thatch more. Next time, I will make sure I make it to The Thatch for each Wednesday I'm in town. The only thing that makes me feel better about not being there is that Gene may end up meeting us in or around Dublin on Friday PM. I can't think of a better way to end our time in Ireland.

It's hard to believe we have just three nights left in Ireland.

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Exploring Baltimore, Sherkin Island and Skibbereen

I'm exhausted after our jam-packed day. It started out with a walk around Baltimore- which really isn't that big. But part way through our walk, it started torrential raining with crazy high winds and that made the walk seem much longer than it actually was. When we woke up this morning, after my first comfortable night of sleep (Ireland B&Bs and hotels have the worst pillows), it was fun to look outside and see what this place was all about. We arrived in the dark last night and I've never been to this part of Ireland before, so it was a surprise to wake up and see how cute- and tiny- Baltimore is.

This place is usually crawling with people during the "high season." There are lines to get onto the ferry to some of the other islands (Sherkin and Cape Clear). Parking is difficult. The courtyard area is filled with people spilling out from the restaurants and pubs.

But this time of year, it's deserted. Last night when we went to the pub downstairs (didn't even have to go outside to get there!), it seemed like everyone who looked at us thought we were off our rockers for being here. I agree with them, there's very little to do, but we wanted to come here because it was a part of Ireland I'd never traveled too and we wanted to kick back.

Here are some pictures from our walk around Baltimore to give you a better idea of where we are:







We looked into doing whale watching tours but were told that they were suspended for the next few days because of bad weather and rough waters. So we stuck to our original plan of taking a 10-minute ferry ride to Sherken Island. According to all the guidebooks, there's an "average of 100" people who live on Sherken.

What we learned from our taxi ride around the island by a local (whose name we didn't catch) is that, similar to the Aran Islands, only natives can build. Everyone else can only purchase homes on Sherken. There used to be two schools, one for girls and one for boys. But today there is one school for the 12 students, who have two teachers (not a bad teacher to student ratio!). In addition to the school, there are two pubs, a community center, three beaches, a 15th century abbey, a marine station and a hotel. There's one main road through the whole island which is 3 miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide. There are no speed limit signs, and I'm fairly certain our taxi driver didn't ever go over 27 MPH. Two cars absolutely cannot travel on the road at the same time. One of you must pull over and wait for the other to go by.









When we got to the ferry landing to get the return to Baltimore, a handful of locals spilled off the boat with groceries in hand. One man was carrying a bag full of wine. Another man was carrying two loaves of bread and two containers of milk. Another man had some wood and other supplies. And our taxi driver was there to drop everyone off at their home.



It was such an interesting way of life. To examine these people in their small island life was very eye opening. I know for a fact I couldn't live that small of a life. I couldn't depend on a ferry to a smaller seaside town and then a car or taxi ride into the next biggest town to get groceries. I couldn't live on a mostly deserted island with only 100 other people. With a road so small only one car can travel on it at a time. But this is the Ireland that I find fascinating.

On the ferry ride over, we met the librarian of Sherkin who was commuting with her two dogs (the previous librarian was known for her dogs who came to work with her, so she assured us she was just keeping up with tradition). She told us how she recently moved from Sherkin to Baltimore because she couldn't afford to buy anything on Sherkin. She also said that there's this sense of something bad happening and many people in this part of Ireland are really learning how to be self-reliant and self-sufficient. We talked a little bit about Clear Island (an Irish speaking Ireland). We learned that the government does a lot to help keep the inhabitants of Clear Island there by creating jobs for them and making it worth their while. "It's better this way," she explained. It's always good to chat it up with the locals- you learn so much more that way.

After Sherkin we jumped right in the car to head to Skibbereen. We wanted to check out a couple of places- The Church Restaurant and The Heritage Center.

Kate, who helps run The Waterfront Hotel here in Baltimore, recommended the Church Restaurant- a renovated Methodist church (which had services up until 2003, for 170 years before that). Good food and certainly a unique atmosphere. When we walked in, we were blown away at how good it looked. Definitely the best church I've ever been in! We had really good food too and enjoyed the unique setting too.

After that we did walk down the street to the Heritage Center where we learned more about the potato famine: this commemorates the tragic period in the 1840s that is known in Irish History as the Great Hunger. Skibbereen was one of the worst affected areas, and the events of the era are depicted using local characters and events, and Lough Hyne: Lough Hyne, Ireland's first Marine Nature Reserve, nestles in a fold of hills 5 km south west of Skibbereen in West Cork. This marine lake is fed from the sea by a narrow tidal channel known as 'The Rapids'. This unique lake and its surrounds are home to a rich and varied range of plants and animals, including many rare and beautiful species. Since it was ‘discovered’ by marine biologists in 1886, scientists have carried out pioneering research in experimental ecology. Their continued research into the factors governing the distributions of marine animals and plants make Lough Hyne on of the most- studied marine sites of Europe.

On our way out of town I caught two great Guinness signs:





Tonight it's dinner at Jacob's Bar- right downstairs- and early to bed. Tomorrow I'm planning on not leaving here for most of the day. I'm craving a day of staying in bed and reading and writing. A day to truly relax and not go off and do anything. I think it's just what the doctor ordered.

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From Dingle to Baltimore

Katie and I started the day with a walk around Dingle. During last year's trip to Ireland we stayed in Annascaul and only made a side trip into Dingle before heading onto Cork. So I was very happy to be spending the night here. It's a very very cute coastal town and we were staying at a great B&B recommended in a book by Karen Brown (who I just heard of through Erica & Sawnia).

The walk was a perfect way to start the day and we got some really great shots of the town.









Towards the end of our walk we turned around and there was an old man in a carriage, being pulled by two horses, pulling two more horses with his dog running all around them as if he was shepherding them along. It was so quintessential Ireland that I could hardly believe it was happening. See for yourself:





After breakfast and a brief break from the group, we headed back into Dingle for Erica & Sawnia to explore and for us to try Mitchell's ice cream made right in town (and sold in three or four other locations around Ireland). It was yummy- I was happy to get Chocolate whiskey ice cream.



I was very excited for the drive out of Dingle as I knew it would be filled with the brightest of green hills and the beaches of Inch. It did not disappoint. I took some pictures we can only be described as heavenly and magical.











We stopped in Killarney for lunch, which was one of the busiest places we've driven through. It's very cute and we found a pub called The Speakeasy.



After Killarney it was starting to get dark and we still had quite a ways to go. Erica took all the driving for the day and we meandered our way through the Killarney mountains. It was borderline scary as it was dark, a little stormy and people really fly on these small country roads. We arrived in sleepy Baltimore past 5pm and were very happy to discover that everything we'd need was attached to our hotel- bar, restaurant, store- all right here.

We now have three days here in Baltimore to explore and relax. And that's just what I plan on doing!

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Sunday Driving

We woke up this morning and walked down to catch the ferry back to the mainland. This is the beautiful sight we were greeted with:



One of our goals for this trip was to not spend too much time in the car jumping from one place to the next. But we also knew our day after the Aran Islands was going to be our longest day of driving. I settled into the driver's seat after getting off the ferry and we made our way down south to Dingle.

First was a stop, of course, to the Cliffs of Moher. I will admit driving by Doolin and not stopping in was a little torturous. But if we wanted to make decent time getting to our destination, there wasn't time for multiple stops. The Cliffs are never an old sight. This is my fourth trip to Ireland and my fourth trip to the Cliffs. It was a beautiful day and nowhere near as windy as it was during last year's visit.

I think my most memorable visit, however, was with Kara. We had driven all the way across the country to see the Cliffs and when we walked up, they were completely fogged in. You could barely see a few feet in front of you. The innkeeeper where we stayed in Doolin that night told us that fog can settle in for months at a time and not to hold our breath. Luckily, when we went back the next morning, it was a very very clear day.

Katie and I joked multiple times about how funny/crazy it was that we were going to see Dad in Ireland before we made it to New Hampshire to see him. During last year's visit we scattered some of his ashes off the edge of the cliff, so it was a special visit once again.

Here are a couple of photos taken earlier today at the Cliffs of Moher:







After the Cliffs we continued on down the coast towards Lahinch- also a place I've been to at least three times before. This time there were surfers in the water which, of course, reminded me of Steve:





From Lahinch we continued down to Dingle. During last year's trip we weren't able to stop as frequently as I had hoped to take pictures. It was so, so green and I wanted so desperately to capture how green it was. This time around I pulled over a few times and caught some very vivid pictures:







After some rest and catching up on the internet, we went into Dingle for dinner. It was another early night, but Katie and I are determined to get up early and get in a good walk before we do a little more exploring of Dingle and head down to Baltimore.

PS- The B&B we're staying at, Heaton's is great. Very cozy, clean and comfortable.

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Visiting the Aran Islands- Inishmore to be Exact

This is my fourth trip to Ireland and I finally made it to the Aran Islands. I really wanted to do this during my other visits, but never could make it work. Plus, I was ignorant and thought that if I couldn’t take the ferry from Doolin, then taking a ferry wasn’t an option. But just a 40-minute drive south of Ballynahinch, we parked the car and took a 45-minute ferry ride from Rossaveal, just north of Galway. The ferry ride was just long enough to have a quick nap.

Immediately upon arriving at the Aran Islands we were accosted by locals trying to get us on their horse and carriage for a ride or in their van for a tour of the island. Katie and I were debating whether we should bike (and fulfill an Irish dream of ours) or take the van (where we could undoubtedly learn all about the Aran Islands thought the eyes of a local.

Fitness and dreaming won out and we left Erica and Sawnia to a tour via van and local driver while Katie and I headed down the hill to hire a bike for the day.

Everyone we met with kept telling us how lucky we were with the weather. The sun was shining and it’s very possible that I’ll wake up with a sunburn tomorrow. Apparently the night before they had gale force winds and crazy amounts of rain. We are definitely thankful anytime the sun is shining!

After a little bit of bike trouble (Katie had unrealistic expectations of the shape her bike should be in), we were on our way. As I said to Katie, I was very glad that we were biking, I was just going to complain about:

1. How uncomfortable the seat was.
2. How one week on vacation and not in the gym doing cardio left me feeling like an inhaler would have helped immensely.
3. How much I’ve forgotten what it’s like to work out in cold weather- my lungs were on fire!
4. How hard the hills were.

Honestly, apart from all of that, and possibly because of it as well, we had a great time. I’m definitely glad we chose the bike route. I could see how that wouldn’t be as fun of an option during high tourist season. Today we only had to dodge a few cars and tractors, bikes and dogs, and even a soccer ball.

But the day was epic. It’s hard to explain the Aran Islands and unfortunately my pictures don’t capture the landscape as well as I’d hoped. Here’s what we learned from Erica & Sawnia’s recap of their tour:
1. Each family gets 40 – 50 acres to build a house.
2. You have to be from the Aran Islands- or marry someone from here- in order to build.
3. If you’re not from the Aran Islands, you can purchase a developed home (but you can’t build your own).
4. The breakdown of the island’s economy is as follows:
a. Fishing = 50%
b. Tourism = 40%
c. Knitwear = 5%
d. Farming = 5%
5. The smallest bank in Ireland is on Inishmore and is only opened two days a week- Wednesday & Thursday. Their tour driver said, “Wednesday we put it in. Thursday we take it out.” Which clearly gets a laugh every time.
6. There are 8 thatched houses on Inishmore.
7. All the houses are rectangular in shape except for one- which is round.
8. Most of the knitwear for sale on the Aran Islands, especially Inishmore, isn’t even made here.
9. There’s a Gaelic submersion program taught for three months each summer for 800 Euros/month. If you are caught speaking English more than three times, you’re sent packing without a refund!
10. There are 7 faces to each rock. This means there are 7 different ways to stack a rock.
11. Stone walls are built with spaces so the wind can go through and not knock them down.

Our bike ride took us first to Dun Aonghasa (pronounced Doon Angus). My tour book says “This Iron or Bronze Age promontory fort has four concentric stone walls. It is also protected by a chevaux de frise, a ring of razor-sharp pointed stone stakes.” In Molly speak, it was a 20-minute walk to the top of cliffs with an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean and very cool stonewalls.







From there we had lunch at a super cute café where I had amazing looking (but not great tasting) Guinness beef stew and mashed potatoes. I also couldn’t resist the chocolate Guinness cake, which was much better than the stew. We walked across the street to three little shops and then continued on the bike to another popular attraction on Inishmore: The Seven Churches.







Tour book description says, “The so-called Seven Churches make up a monastic settlement dedicated to St. Brecan. Built between the 9th and 15th centuries, some are probably domestic buildings. Again, in Molly speak, the name is misleading, because (according to Erica & Sawnia’s tour guide, there were once seven buildings on this property, but never seven churches. Also, this was basically some ruins with a lot of tombstones and graves.







Instead of taking the hilly ride back, we took the coastal route. Although we couldn’t enjoy it as much as we had hoped because 1) our asses were killing us at this point. We’d been on our bikes for a good couple of hours and the uncomfortableness of being on a bike that had no amount of comfort to offer was settling in. Also, 2) as with most of Ireland, there was no good signage or indication that we were going the right way. And because we were so uncomfortable and ready to ditch our bikes, the thought of having to turn around because we were going the wrong way was causing anxiety. We were supposed to be on the “seal road” or maybe the “sea road” and it turns out we were (you’d think biking right along the sea would have been reassurance enough), but we didn’t know that until we spit out onto the “main road” and were about two minutes from the bike hire shop.

As I said, being able to bike around the island was a spectacular way to see this part of Ireland. I feel like I appreciated our time here more because we in turn worked harder to see all it had to offer.

After dropping the bike off, Katie and I were both very happy to be on our own two feet walking back to the B&B. We spent the evening warming up and relaxing before heading out for dinner at the pub two doors down- Ti Jay Watty’s.

We had killer local mussels for dinner- my first bit of seafood apart from salmon in Dublin. It was delicious and even better knowing that it was about as local as one could get. The pub atmosphere was lacking, seriously, and was quite disappointing. But I often find that after spending a night at The Thatch, nothing really can compare. This place was just off. There was some weirdo walking out of the place to smoke just as soon as we walked in. Someone who caused Erica, Sawnia & Katie to make constant comparisons to a character our of Harry Potter- Mr. Filch. Only having a little bit of knowledge of Harry Potter, I can’t say I know who they’re talking about. But seeing this guy, and knowing the kind of characters that come outta the world of Harry Potter, I knew this was no compliment.

The night was brief and I didn’t have a drink. In fact, I’ve only had a few sips of Guinness since The Thatch on Wednesday. Which I’m okay with.





Tomorrow we are up early for the ferry ride at 815am. We drive from Rossaveal to Dingle, which will be our longest day in the car. It’s nice that it’s only one long day of driving, and because we have to be up to catch the ferry, at least we know we’ll be getting on the road early enough that we can enjoy Dingle once we do arrive.

Dingle is a place we blew through last year. We spent the night in Annascaul (which you get to just before hitting Dingle) and had such a long day of driving that when we finally arrived, we ate and pretty much called it a night. So I’m hoping we get there on the early side so we can walk around some more and enjoy Dingle.

I have a week left before we go home. I’m definitely relaxed and enjoying myself. The pace with which we move is slow and comfortable. We haven’t gone crazy being on vacation as far as food is concerned. We’ve done a good job of watching what we’re eating, but of also not making ourselves crazy trying to eat perfectly either. And we have taken almost every opportunity we could to fit in some exercise. It all feels really good.

Pictures to be posted later- when I have a better internet connection!

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